Where to stay: I stayed in a really great Airbnb while staying in Brno. I found that the hostel options weren’t as great as I’d like, and thought it’d be good to be staying with a local in such a small and non-touristy city. Our flat was on the street that’s apparently becoming known as the “bar area”, although it wasn’t loud at night, that only meant that there were great bars and restaurants around! My recommendation is to stay somewhere…
Where to stay: I have never stayed in Bruges overnight because there really isn’t a need to unless you want a nice relaxing weekend of wandering around. If you do want to stay overnight, though, I would go with an Airbnb rental, as most of the hostels are close in price to Airbnb anyway, and their ratings aren’t that great. Bruges has a lovely old center, and you’ll definitely want to be staying in that part of the city. The streets are…
By Katie Ford — I’ve now been living in Prague for just about 3 months, which seems insane to me. What’s even crazier to think about is that this is the point when a typical study abroad student would start to think about leaving and going back home after the semester, but that’s not going to be in the cards for me for quite a while yet! The past three months have certainly been an adjustment period for me. I…
By Katie Ford — When you first decide to start traveling, whether it be while you’re studying abroad or just because, there will be an onslaught of things that you need to learn, and a large amount of advice streaming in from every direction from well-meaning people who may have done it before. What those people won’t tell you is that there are some things that you’ll just have to learn by trial-and-error, and there are other things that would…
It’s been over two months since I moved to Prague, and almost exactly two months since I began working, but I’ve had almost no time to truly learn the city, learn any more Czech than I came with, or even meet a lot of people. Today, I decided that that was going to change. I realized when I was walking around with my students after they arrived last week that they were going to know more about Prague than…
By Katie Ford — It’s been just over a month since I moved to Prague, and it’s been an absolute whirlwind. Because I moved here for the specific purpose of working, that’s been my focus which is, I suppose, a blessing and a curse. I’m very fortunate to have found such an awesome job in a foreign country (especially in such a cool city like Prague), but working 40+ hours per week doesn’t give me much time to explore the…
By Katie Ford — Stereotypes are such a funny thing. They occupy space in our minds as if they were a true representation of whatever that “thing” is, and it’s often difficult for us to reexamine our opinions once we’ve adopted a stereotype as truth. When we travel, these stereotypes become all-important maps that determine how we interact with other people and other cultures. When we experience another culture, country, or group of people through the attitude of a stereotype,…
By Katie Ford — Hello from Prague! The home base of Study Hard Travel Smart has jumped across the Atlantic to the beautiful city of Prague, but that also means that my life has uprooted itself once more. I landed safely back in Europe about two weeks ago, and it’s been a whirlwind since the moment I stepped off the plane. Moving is stressful no matter where you’re going, but when it requires flying across an ocean there are so…
By Katie Ford — Most would agree that studying abroad is an incredible experience, and it is worth the school events, club activities, and parties that you might miss while you’re away. I doubt that anyone would argue that studying abroad becomes much more difficult when you’re away from your family during the holidays. There are ways to help lessen any homesickness you might be feeling, and that will allow you to enjoy the holidays, even when you’re abroad! Here…
By Katie Ford — How annoying is it to plan a big backpacking trip, pack up all of your necessary items into a carry-on backpack, and then realize that all of your toiletry items don’t fit into that tiny clear plastic bag? Well, my friends, I’ve discovered the Holy Grail of travel-friendly toiletry items! I spent some time visiting my local LUSH store in Nanuet, NY learning all about the amazing products they have available that are super travel-friendly. All of…
